Category Archives: gratitude

My friend, Rachel, over at Living Better One Day At Time is doing a weekly check in on her yearly goals. She inspired me to do something similar.

My word for the year is gratitude. So, I decided to post a gratitude list each Tuesday. Not exactly an original idea, I know. However, I thought it would be nice to have a sort of on-line gratitude journal to reflect back on at year-end. Plus, it should keep my word in focus for the year.

Not going to give myself a set number of things to list. I think this will work better as just a random weekly list. Most items will probably also be about things the previous week. So, here’s my first gratitude list of 2019.

GRATITUDE LIST

My oldest wanting to invite his band friends over when pep band canceled last Monday

Having food and place for them all to hang out

A husband who helps with the laundry and takes care of outside things (like shoveling the driveway 5 times during the weekend snowstorm)

A chance to get out and have dinner with good friends. Hanging out a bit longer with one of them.

That I didn’t hurt anything but my pride when I fell on the snow/ice taking out the trash

Good friends who let my son stay over as the storm moved in on Friday

Good friends who safely brought him home on Saturday so we didn’t have to worry about him trying to drive home (My husband went with him to get his car on Sunday)

Tree branches not hitting our house or power lines and our power staying ON

Motrin to give my child running high fevers

Essential oils and candles so the house doesn’t smell like sickness

My husband and son arriving safely at their destinations this morning (and my son back home this afternoon)

Stopping here so I can get back to my project for the day (clearing out clothes and shoes, Marie Kondo style). My list each week is likely much longer than the number of items listed.

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Thank you for your encouragement on my first choice for word of the year in 2019.

However, I decided time didn’t fit well as a word of the year for me. And instead of struggle with it all year, I changed it.

In theory, time was a great word. In practice, I found it (already) extremely stressful! Focusing on time is not a peaceful practice. And feels just like it feels at 5 minutes to the end of any activity you are ready to stop. Or finish before a timer ends.

Taking a moment to appreciate things or breath and listen to the silence: Great!

Stressing that you aren’t taking enough of those moments: Not so great!

And can I just confess I rushed myself to choose a word. Instead of slowing down (yes, the time irony is there) and taking the time to reflect, I rushed into a word for 2019.

Yet if I had thought it through, my word had already whispered itself to me as 2018 faded away.

As I grumbled and paid our property taxes on-line New Year’s Eve, my word whispered away some of the annoyance. Here in addition to counting down to the new year, we count down to the last possible moment our taxes are due. Missouri property taxes due in December.

I thought how thankful I was we were paying those taxes on a warm home. We weren’t struggling in the elements. Gratitude, the word to start 2019 announced itself right there.

Throughout the start of the year (eight days so far), I began to re-frame annoying little things. No, I didn’t want to start back to work with everyone else. However, I have a job where I love to go to work.

My new word doesn’t mean I haven’t had moments of annoyance at little things. It just means pausing and rethinking. Laundry means we have clothes to wear and a way to keep them clean. My husband throwing my Chiefs shirt in the dryer reminds me I have a husband willing to help with the laundry.